The black sun hangs high

Chapter 281 The Last Night

Seren, this unique city that has endured countless hardships, is now struggling towards its inevitable end.

The raging flames were flashing and rising continuously in the southern part of Seren.

This time, the intense light originating from magic or weapons has become an important reliance for people in their pursuit of life and the future.

Amidst the piercing screams of the Dark Abyss's offspring and the final cries of every warrior facing death, each person seemed to become a member of a small tribe in a distant era, seeking warmth by a campfire.

Every spark that ignites signifies the start of a rebellion, while every extinguishing of a flame represents the advance of those terrifying beings.

To the pilots of the magical airships and balloons who came to carry out the bombing mission, such colors appeared even more tragic and devastating.

The Second Airship Regiment from the Kingdom of Delan was responsible for carrying out this "Scorched City" mission. In fact, they had only been formed for a short time and had not even participated in any large-scale frontal battles. It was only when these professional soldiers and accompanying mages boarded the airships that they realized they had taken on such a mission.

The strange darkness surging within the city of Seren was their primary bombing target for this mission, while the flickering firelight was the starting point for their bombing.

The bombardment will last for four hours, during which powerful crystal bombs, manufactured by the two major mage organizations and the highland artisans, will cover the entire city of Seren. These special crystal bombs will create a magical flame of astonishing scale that can be sustained for an extremely long time, with the power of the flames and the area they can affect far exceeding that of ordinary magic and weapons.

Under the cover of such intense flames, not only will everything on the ground be burned to ashes, but everything in underground spaces, such as pipes, will also suffer fatal damage and destruction.

"Their first line of defense has collapsed. Should we drop bombs?"

"There are definitely many people who get entangled in that 'sludge,' but they can't hold out for long."

"The fires they've lit below are our bombing sites! Execute orders!"

The officer in charge of the decision-making also saw the scene in the city, but he had no other choice.

As a professional soldier, he knew that the sacrifices and deaths of these warriors must be given due meaning.

So, with the order given, the soldiers on the magic airship and balloon could only grit their teeth and turn the metal handwheel in front of them, open the bomb release window, and then slowly move out those terrifying high-explosive bombs, dropping them when they reached the target point.

After the piercing whistling sound came a deafening roar.

The first powerful bomb successfully landed on the surging tide of Dark Abyss Spawns, and a blinding light immediately burst forth from within the flowing, dark colors. The magical explosion and terrifying impact, far exceeding that of ordinary crystal cannonballs, instantly created a void within these ancient creations.

Then, more high-explosive bombs fell, the explosions were deafening, and even the powerful ritual site that sealed off the city of Seren flickered with chaotic light amidst the continuous tremors.

The offspring of the Dark Abyss were plunged into a brief period of chaos and confusion.

They did indeed steal a considerable amount of memories from the residents of Seren, but these memories contained very little information related to magical airships and bombing. They were terrified of this new form of combat that had emerged in such a short time, and of the indiscriminate bombing.

The advancing tide of chaos began to slow down significantly. Many offspring individuals that had dispersed to launch an attack perished on the spot under the scorching heat of the flames. Furthermore, many large offspring aggregates were reduced to slag and fragments by the violent magical explosion.

Facing the monsters that had narrowly escaped the first round of bombardment and were still trying to approach him, the mage of the Law Committee, with a dragon tooth token hanging from his waist and a magic book in his hand, staggered to his feet. He could no longer hear, and blood kept dripping from his nostrils.

However, looking at the twisted forms struggling in the flames, he revealed an unprecedentedly enthusiastic smile.

As for his companion, the card player who especially loved the "Northern Deck" had completely disappeared in the sweeping flames. Several damaged Dragon Tooth cards floated in the air, and an unrecognizable body fell into the flames—that was his last trace.

"Praise the flame, praise Vaan, praise the goddess Mel!"

However, the mage was not sad. He shouted in his completely distorted voice, then swung his arm forcefully, throwing the scattered pages of his magic book and his beloved cards into the air. With this action, riotous magic burst forth from the pages, and in the shock of the bombardment, the war ritual buried in the street was launched.

The mages and their dragon tooth cards were thus engulfed by the surging magical light.

Meanwhile, the airship crew members who were carrying out the bombing mission saw a particularly conspicuous blue line rapidly stretching across the edge of the southern city amidst the flames of the bombing. All the monsters that tried to escape the flames and continue forward were instantly destroyed in this strange magical light.

Moreover, after the initial intense war magic took effect, the destructive blue light remained on the ground, with countless intricate magical runes flashing within it. Together with the surging flames, these runes continuously damaged the Dark Abyss Spawns who were trying to continue their journey.

"This gave them a lot more time."

On the airship, the officer who had seen the dazzling light of the war magic sighed, but before he could finish speaking, the observer beside him made a discovery. He pointed to a certain location in the city of Seren and his voice was distorted: "What...what is that thing?"

Meanwhile, the crew members on the other airships also noticed the anomaly.

The giant crystal lamp installed on the airship was turned on, and its bright light was projected toward the target location.

Under the bright lights, a chilling scene unfolded before everyone's eyes.

Where the lights converged, a huge hill appeared, formed by the viscous monsters. It looked only slightly shorter than the city walls of Seren. Around it, black shadows continued to gather, as if some kind of treasure was there to attract them.

Looking at the ever-moving, enormous shadow, the officer on the airship felt his heart pounding, and his mouth tasted bitter. He asked hoarsely, "What is that place?" "According to the map, that's the location of the Seren City Legal Committee branch!"

Upon hearing this, the officer raised his hand and tugged at his collar. He then ordered the soldiers beside him, "Notify everyone to change the ammunition after the third round of bombing... I now believe that the scorched-city strategy is indeed necessary. These monsters absolutely cannot escape from Seren! We need to incinerate them here completely!"

……

At this critical juncture, it is not only the city of Seren that is facing a life-or-death crisis.

In fact, for the very few soldiers who remained in the Great Rift camp and persisted in making final records, death seemed imminent.

They had no magic in their bodies, so the eerie power emanating from the depths of the rift did not have a strong effect on them. However, as time went by and the intensity of magic in the environment increased, these brave soldiers finally began to show various symptoms.

Tinnitus, dizziness, vomiting...

In severe cases, nosebleeds may occur, and the teeth may feel loose...

Even so, they remained steadfast in their work—the observation and recording of the cracks continued unabated until this point. Soldiers took turns using instruments or their naked eyes to observe the changes taking place inside and around the cracks, recording these changes and transmitting them to the rear via pre-set communication devices.

The room where the communication devices are stored is the only "sanctuary" in this camp.

To ensure that the ritual was not affected by the mutated magic, the emergency committee set up a number of protective rituals near the ritual before the evacuation to ensure its stability. This made the chaotic magic relatively stable after passing through these protective rituals, and such an environment also allowed the soldiers who were being rotated to catch their breath.

After yet another earthquake, the terrifying crack grew even larger, completely swallowing up the camp buildings that were originally quite a distance from the edge of the crack. And after nightfall, the soldiers could clearly see strange lights rising from the ground and psychedelic fog.

Now, the so-called "tremor" no longer needs to be felt by the mages.

As ordinary people who had never been exposed to magic, the soldiers could clearly feel a strange force acting on their thoughts and minds once they calmed down. Some even felt that the entire ground was vibrating at a certain frequency.

After midnight, the rugged hills and surrounding areas were struck by another violent earthquake. This time, most of the crevice camp was completely destroyed, and the soldiers witnessed an even more astonishing scene.

In that exposed underground world, they saw a blinding light, as if another sun was hidden beneath the surface.

However, this light is not warm; on the contrary, it constantly takes away the temperature from the surroundings.

The liquid began to freeze, and frost appeared on the soldiers' eyelashes. They had to wrap themselves in thicker clothing to continue their work.

As time passed and the ground trembled, the light seemed to be constantly moving closer to the surface. Its light was not constant; at certain moments it would dim, and at these times, the soldiers could observe it with their naked eyes. This action, however, subjected them to an even more intense shock.

Some people saw that deep within the crack, amidst the seemingly ever-rising light, there were many shadows—some of which appeared to be human, some to other animals, and others to be bizarre beings that were simply indescribable.

These shadows with their strange luster are not constant; they change every moment, just like various aquatic creatures swimming in a vast body of water.

The soldiers who witnessed this strange sight were unable to deliver the message themselves, because as they observed the shadows with fear, the light at the bottom of the abyss flickered again, and they were blinded on the spot. Under the influence of that chaotic magic, the eyes of the two soldiers were severely distorted, just like those mages who returned from underground, their eyes turned into crystal clear magical crystals.

Despite their pain, they persevered and recounted everything they had seen. After that, both of them fell into a long silence. Their bodies began to change little by little, just like the survivors who had turned into humanoid crystals. When they were completely transformed into magical crystals, the ancient patterns that Vilin had successfully identified emerged from the depths of their crystalline bodies.

And the meaning represented by these patterns is precisely that chilling cry and admonition.

"Run!"

However, such advice was meaningless to the soldiers who were holding their ground.

As time went on, everyone discovered that their bodies were beginning to show varying degrees of abnormalities. Even though they remained under the protection of the ritual and tried their best to avoid being exposed to that light, the mutation continued to worsen.

All relevant information was transmitted through the secret instrument, a process that lasted for a full two hours.

However, fewer and fewer people were able to write messages and manipulate the occult instruments in a normal state. The cracks continued to widen, and more and more humanoid crystals appeared in the camp. After faithfully completing the last record, the last elven soldier in the camp who could still move with difficulty used the occult instrument to bid farewell to the scholars behind him. He then finished his work, dragged his arm, which was covered with crystal fragments, out of the room, and left the protective ritual field that was on the verge of collapse.

It was still a long time before dawn.

But the light emanating from underground was so bright that it gave him the illusion that he was in daylight.

Now, what he faced was no longer a so-called "crack," but an incredibly wide and enormous rift valley. The deformation and collapse of the rugged hills continued unabated. As a resident of the plateau, this elven soldier from the plateau had a deep affection for the mountains and hills, yet now he felt as if he could even hear the earth crying as it was being torn apart.

Or perhaps, it was actually Vaan's weeping?
He didn't know, he only knew that his body was changing little by little in the shimmering, blinding light, so he sat alone on the open ground and tried to lift his head.

Although it was a pipe dream, he still wanted to see the bright sun one more time.

(End of this chapter)